OptiBiotix Health plc (LON:OPTI) shares jumped in early trading Monday after it inked a supply and profit sharing agreement with Zeon Lifesciences Ltd for its SlimBiome weight loss product.
The life sciences firm said the agreement would grant Zeon an exclusive licence to manufacture and supply SlimBiome in India in return for a 50% share of the profits.
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Zeon would also cover the registration costs of SlimBiome and any products containing it with the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India.
OptiBiotix said the agreement would optimise its supply chain in Southern Asia by “leveraging Zeon's purchasing power, manufacturing efficiencies and partner network” to scale up the manufacturing and supply of SlimBiome.
Zeon is India’s leading manufacturer of nutraceutical and herbal products with expertise in developing custom formulations for the food, herbal, and pharmaceutical industries. The company's customers have included French food giant Danone as well as multinational Indian pharma firm Sun Pharmaceutical.
Stephen O'Hara, chief executive of OptiBiotix, said the firm had chosen Zeon due to their position as “India's leading manufacturer of nutraceutical products, industry reputation, extensive national and international partner network, and their expertise in manufacturing high-value nutraceutical products”.
“We believe partnering with Zeon is an important step in optimising the supply chain to facilitate the needs of existing and new corporate partners in India and Southern Asia and anticipate further announcements in due course.”
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In a note to clients, analysts at City broker finnCap said the deal was “another example of the building blocks OptiBiotix continues to put in place to commercialise its technology platforms”, adding that while it was “still too early to make meaningful forecasts”, the group’s commercial footprint “continues to expand with highly relevant and experienced partners”.
Shares were up 2.7% at 93.5p.
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